Kohler1.5 KVA light plantThis is a 1948 Kohler They were made in
115 VAC and DC also in manual start andFully automatic electric start.The hp is not given. It is a 4 cyl 2 in.
bore, 3 in stroke and weights 497 lb! It holds 7 qts of oil and 9.5
qts of water.A "modern power plant of this power would use
a 3 hp engine.

The automatic version uses just 3 relays to sense
when a light (or other load) is turned on, start the generator, sense that
it was started and up to speed, transfer the power to the load, and shut
down when the load is gone!The large relay on the left is the load sense
relay (Two coils, one for DC when the unit is off and one for AC when the
Generator is running.The large relay on the right is the Generator
start relay"L" is a thermo cut out to shut off the unit
if it doesn't start quicklyThe Light Plant starts and senses loads with
24VDC Batteries. The batteries are automatically charged (but at
a fixed rate)The light plant draws NO power in standby!It can be crank started

I have one of these and have a lot of fun with
it at shows. I rig it up with a "wall switch" and a string of lights
and invite passer byes to turn on the light.

Here are some similar unitsThis one is a very nice manual start light plant
Thanks to Jim Dunmyer